(670 The Score) Eight games remain for the Bears.
That sounds like more of a threat than a promise after their discouraging 24-17 defeat to the Saints at the Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday.
But it’s important to reinforce what this season now represents for the Bears after they dropped to 2-7, passing up perhaps their last, best chance to make the present matter more the future at Halas Hall.
It no longer does.
Maybe it was silly to think it ever did in 2023. Especially for a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game in nearly 13 years.
Nonetheless, had the Bears beaten the Saints on the road with undrafted rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent playing as well as he did in the first half, they could've justified making key decisions that prioritized winning now over planning for later. A head coach like Matt Eberflus trying to keep his job might have been tempted to stay with Bagent’s hot hand and win as many games as possible to avoid becoming one of the losingest coaches in franchise history.
No need to worry now.
Alas, Bagent came crashing back to earth in the second half, like so many NFL backup quarterbacks do, to make those conversations moot and remove any doubt about what the Bears should do now at the position.
That’s an easy call.
Justin Fields hopefully will return from a thumb injury Thursday night after a three-game absence and the Bears can resume the evaluation process on what they have in Fields. What the Bears have said publicly about Fields – and, more interestingly, what they haven’t said in terms of effusive praise – suggests maybe they already know. They hardly sound sold on Fields but owe themselves and Fields the time remaining this season to make a stronger case. And the better Bagent played in Fields’ absence, the more you wondered how that might complicate the evaluation process.
Over the final eight games, which is an eternity in the NFL, Fields can make it clearer what kind of NFL quarterback he can be. Or can’t be. If another injury prevents Fields from giving the Bears a complete picture, that lack of clarity becomes part of the answer too.
Possessing the Panthers’ first-round draft pick in 2024 as well as their own pick potentially offers the Bears a rare opportunity to be in position to draft a franchise quarterback such as USC’s Caleb Williams or North Carolina’s Drake Maye, but nothing’s ever guaranteed in the NFL. So, the Bears must ask themselves after every Fields start moving forward if he's the kind of quarterback with whom they can win a Super Bowl.
Not win the NFC North. Not compete for a playoff spot. Not make football exciting again for a moribund franchise.
Win a Super Bowl.
That mission statement so often gets lost in these incessant local debates pitting Fields against Bagent and all the distractions that reveal just how much dysfunction exists at Halas Hall. This season began as one in which the Bears were expected to demonstrate a style of play conducive to winning a championship due to an aggressive, opportunistic defense and a dynamic, history-making quarterback. But at midseason, this quickly has devolved into an infomercial on NFL incompetence, from an undisciplined, unprepared team on the field to the unusual happenings on a coaching staff that has had two assistants mysteriously let go for behavioral issues.
Last Wednesday, for just the latest example, even after trading the Commanders for solid defensive end Montez Sweat – who later signed a four-year contract extension worth up to $98 million – Bears brass had to address running backs coach David Walker’s dismissal and cornerback Jaylon Johnson’s loud trade request.
Giving up a second-round draft pick indeed qualifies as a high price for Sweat, but the Bears were unlikely to find any player at that spot in the draft who offers what a 27-year-old veteran with 67 NFL starts does. Sweat collapsed the pocket with a power rush in his Bears debut Sunday and also showed his athleticism by chasing down Taysom Hill from behind on a long gain in the second half.
There’s no doubt that Sweat represents the kind of player who's easy to envision starting on a championship team.
How many of those players are on this Bears roster? Is Fields one of those guys?
Bagent likely projects as a competent NFL backup on any roster, a player capable of winning a couple games or filling in adequately for a few weeks before his limitations start to get in the way – which is how his third NFL start unfolded.
“I think I did a lot of good things,’’ Bagent said. “I think there are lot of things I can learn from.’’
After one offensive series Sunday, anything seemed possible for the Bears. They took the ball to start the game, and Bagent quickly went into attack mode. He commanded the huddle and displayed poise in the pocket, exuding the kind of confidence required to throw an 18-yard touchdown pass to tight end Cole Kmet that was the definition of 50-50 ball.
You wonder if the success of that opening series emboldened Bagent to take chances later that he would come to regret.
The Bears followed Bagent’s lead, competing in a way they didn’t against the Chargers a week prior. Bagent kept the chains moving with solid decisions and resilience, bouncing back from an early interception like it never fazed him. He hit receivers in stride to increase yards after the catch. He looked the part and captured the imagination.
By halftime, Bagent had played so well that NFL on CBS analyst Boomer Esiason wondered aloud something on the mind of every proud member of The Bagency: “If Tyson Bagent keeps playing this well, I don’t know how you can go back to Justin Fields.’’
The suggestion echoed loudly in Chicago, but with each series in the second half, it looked like a comment that wouldn’t age well.
Now, sorry Boomer, I don’t know how you can’t go back to Justin Fields.
Forget the respectable statistics. Bagent completed 18 of 30 passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns with a 65.3 passer rating. The only number that mattered is four, which was the number of turnovers that Bagent committed — three interceptions and a lost fumble.
Somehow, the game stayed close, which had as much to do with the Saints as the Bears.
The Saints took the lead in the fourth on a shrewd play design that culminated a drive that included the kind of aggressiveness the Bears lacked. With Taysom Hill in at quarterback for the Saints, a role Hill often plays in the red zone, 324-pound defensive tackle Khalen Saunders lined up out of the backfield and ran a flat route. With much attention paid to the big man on a pass route, Hill threw back over the middle, where tight end Juwan Johnson was all alone for a three-yard touchdown reception.
While Hill ended his big day feted as a hero, Bagent left Louisiana feeling like the goat. Bagent used the word “embarrassed" during his postgame media sessionm but the 23-year-old undrafted rookie free agent from Division-II Shepherd did himself proud as the Bears starter despite a rough road start that exposed some weaknesses on which he will improve.
"The first, No. 1 job of the quarterback is to protect the ball," Eberflus said.
Obviously, Bagent didn't.
His first interception came courtesy of Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo, who confused Bagent in a Cover-2 look and coaxed a pass right to the defender. The way Bagent appeared tentative was reminiscent of how the Chargers fooled Bagent into throwing his first interception at SoFi Stadium.
Bagent’s second interception also rewarded a defensive back who guessed right. Bagent eyed receiver Darnell Mooney, and Saints cornerback Marcus Maye jumped the route and picked off the pass, giving Bagent a regrettable fourth-quarter turnover. The way Bagent reacted on the field revealed how much he regretted the decision. In the fourth quarter of a one-possession game, the No. 1 rule for any quarterback is to protect the football.
Bagent violated that tenet again later in the fourth quarter on a poorly thrown ball behind receiver Tyler Scott. Bagent simply didn’t lead his fellow rookie, and Adebo took advantage to pick off his second pass of the game.
“Good on their part, bad on my part, they made a couple really good plays," Bagent said. “That’s all on me forcing a couple plays there. You can’t afford to take plays off in the NFL. You’ve gotta be sharp on every play.’’
The strip-sack-fumble that accounted for Bagent’s fourth turnover also fell under the category of "things that can't happen," but it’s hard to pin a breakdown like that all on the quarterback.
Whatever the case, Bagent acquitted himself well overall in three starts while replacing Fields, but even the best backups come with an expiration date.
If Fields was healthy enough to throw the football at practice Friday, it’s not hard to believe he can return to the field against the Panthers this Thursday.
If only quarterback were the only area of uncertainty.
But for the third game in a row and fifth overall, the Bears committed at least seven penalties, as they finished with eight. The Bears only had three such games in Eberflus’ first season, a sign of regression.
Becoming more undisciplined cancels out the Bears refusing to quit on Eberflus. They only deserve credit for not “folding on ‘Flus’" if they can stop committing penalties.
There are more categories than effort and intensity to consider when evaluating a head coach’s grip on his team.
There’s a lot of football left for the Bears. Consider yourself warned.
David Haugh is the co-host of the Mully & Haugh Show from 5-10 a.m. weekdays on 670 The Score. Click here to listen. Follow him on Twitter @DavidHaugh.